While most people were at home enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner, the women of Tennessee were busy chowing down on some Missouri Tiger as the Paradise Jam’s women’s tournament opened on St. Thomas Thursday.
The tournament favorite, Tennessee came in with a 5-0 record.
The Volunteers jumped out on the Tigers early during Thursday’s game, with a Kelly Cain jumper in the paint to put them up 11-2, with 14:45 left in the first half. After a timeout by coach Robin Pingeton, the Tigers went on a run: a jumper by Sydney Crafton, followed by Shakara Jones’ layup and then a Raeshara Brown jumper put the Tigers within three, 11-8.
But that would be as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the game. The Volunteers went on a 32-16 run to close out the first half, taking a 43-24 lead into the locker rooms.
Coming out into the second half was more of the same. The Volunteers jumped all over the Tigers, and with 6:28 left in the game, found themselves up 30 points, 67-37. Coach Pat Summitt and Tennessee went on to win by 38, 82-44.
Tennessee had four women in double figures, lead by Meighan Simmons with 14 points and Alicia Manning with 11.
For the Tigers, Brown was the only presence on the court, scoring 18 and 10 rebounds.
The final game of the night had Georgia Tech taking on Georgetown. The first half was a back and forth affair, when a Sugar Rodgers three-pointer with 15:32 left in the game gave the Hoyas a 12-10 lead. A bit later in the half, a Monica McNutt jumper pushed the Hoyas lead to seven, 26-19.
But the Yellow Jackets had a lot of fight in them. Tyaunna Marshall’s layup, with 5:23 to go in the half, narrowed the margin to three again. A minute later, Alex Montgomery’s three-pointer knotted the game at 34. Montgomery would answer again with another three-pointer to give the Yellow Jackets a three-point lead.
George Tech went into half leading by one, 39-38.
A layup by Adria Crawford opened the scoring for the second half and gave Georgetown a 40-39 lead. The Yellow Jackets would once again tie it up at 47, with 11:19 left to go in the game on a Sasha Goodlet layup, but from there, the Hoyas went on a run, and by the two minute mark, Georgetown found themselves up 11, 63-52. The Hoyas went on to win 67-58.
Leading scorers for Georgetown were McNutt, who finished the game with 24 points and six rebounds, followed by Rodgers with 11 points.
For Georgia Tech, Marshall finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Montgomery had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Opening the day, West Virginia beat TCU 62-49, while Iowa State beat Virginia 66-48 to round out the Island Division.
